Through the Lens
by Harue Aya
Summary: ONE-SHOT: Sometimes, no matter how keen we are, our eyes miss some things we ought to catch. And that's where our trusted cameras come in. It helps us preserve memories like a split-second winning shot or a sweet smile. (Takao/Reader)


**A/N:** Because I suddenly fell for Takao. I mean, come on! Who wouldn't fall for him? :)) Hope you'd like this one. Let me know your thoughts. :)

* * *

Your eyes studied the picture you caught in your camera: a beaming basketball player giving his teammate a high-five. You gripped your pencil and, with sure and gentle strokes on your notebook, you hoped you'd be able to draw his ever-radiant smile.

It was one of the many wonderful shots you caught in last week's game. Being in Shūtoku High's newspaper club and in-charge of the sports article, you were given the privilege to watch the basketball team's game up-close. You recalled sitting beside the team's coach as you and your own team witnessed the event. You were holding your trusted camera then, determined to catch highlights of the game. But, strangely enough, you felt more distracted than focused as your eyes watched a certain classmate only.

Takao Kazunari moved swiftly and flawlessly, passing the ball to his partner – Midorima Shintaro – in every chance he'd get. Even at times when you thought he wouldn't make it, his agility would prove you wrong. You were aware of his _Hawk Eye_ since the day you first saw him play, but you'd never get used to it: he will always amaze you.

At the sound of the ball going into the net followed by the buzzer, you aimed your camera for Midorima, who were turning away and lifting his hands in victory. But when you finally took the picture, a certain raven-haired boy got in the way.

And that's when you got a picture of your crush smiling at his teammate.

You smiled at the memory in your head. Reminiscing about all of it would always make you feel fuzzy and uncomfortable at the same time. Takao was to blame – if it weren't for his contagious smile and his incredible talent, plus his pleasing personality, and everything else, you wouldn't feel this way in the first place. He's got you attached and you couldn't help it. No matter how hard you tried to disregard your affections for him, he would always do things that would make walking away hard.

You shrugged. Maybe it will pass with time. Maybe this silly crush would fade eventually. _'Until then,'_ you thought, as you finished your artwork, ' _let's just enjoy admiring him from afar.'_

The breeze on the rooftop was refreshing. You took a deep breath and sighed. You agreed you'd start with the draft of the article you were working on after finishing your artwork (which took longer than you planned), but as you were about to go to the next page of your notebook a familiar voice chimed your name.

Your eyes widened as you followed the direction of the voice. Just inches away from you, you saw a grinning Takao with his hands behind his head, coming towards you. You blinked. _'Shoot! Tell me this isn't happening.'_ Panic surged in you, but you remain frozen in your spot.

"Oy, oy. What'cha workin' on?" he asked, tilting his head to one side. You were about to stand from where you were sitting, but he already crouched in and looked closer. He studied the drawing you worked on just a minute ago. "Wow! I didn't know you could draw! That's amazing!"

You took note of his admiration and uttered a simple, "Thank you." You decided to leave, coming up of an excuse to go, but before you knew it he was sitting next to you and took a hold of your camera. Your heart was pounding in your chest, but you kept your composure.

As he was scanning the pictures, he told you, "Practice starts in 40 minutes. I went here to pass the time. Couldn't find Shin-chan anywhere! He always leaves me behind."

You could only nod, finding yourself lost for words.

"Hey! This is last week's game!" he exclaimed.

You nodded once again.

"How come most of the shots are _me_?"

Your eyes widen. You gave him a look.

"Oh, don't tell me." He looked at you with a grin before continuing, "You have a crush on me, don't you?"

You felt yourself blush as you snatched your camera from him. "NO!" you exclaimed, pushing him. The force you exerted wasn't really strong, but he let himself fall to his side as he laughed his heart out.

The creep! He's laughing like it's not a big deal – like your feelings for him wasn't a big deal. Then again, he's not aware of it. And then again, there's something about his laugh that irritated you at first and then, slowly but surely, you'd get lost in the sound that you'd unconsciously smile as well.

Takao arched a brow. "Oh, smiling aren't we? So it's true?" he teased as he got up to a sitting position again, this time in front of you.

You looked away, trying to conceal your blush from him. "Shut up, Takao." You gave up the honorifics a long time ago – ever since he started teasing you. "I don't have a crush on you, nor will I ever," you lied.

There was a pause. For a moment, the sound of the wind and the chirping of the birds were more prominent. It was awkward at the first few seconds, but you found comfort after letting yourself sink into the situation. Here he was, inches in front of you, looking at the sky for reasons unknown to you. You couldn't help but study him – it's very uncharacteristic of him to go quiet for more than 10 seconds. Why the sudden change?

You were about to open your mouth to speak, but he cut you off. "Why do you do the thing you do?"

' _Thing? What_ 'thing?' _'_

As if he read your mind, he pointed at your camera and asked you, "I mean, why do you take pictures?"

You arched a brow and observed him for a moment. There wasn't a hint of sarcasm in his voice and in his expression; you were convinced a joke wouldn't follow after you answer. You sighed and looked at the camera, "I know this sounds cheesy, but ever since I could remember, I wanted to preserve memories."

"Preserve memories?" he repeated.

You nodded. Even though your eyes were on your camera, you were sure he held his gaze on you. "You know, like nature, seasons, people… I want to capture the beautiful moments I could find," as you were saying this, you kept tapping the 'next' button on your camera so different pictures would pop in the screen, "I wanna make them _timeless_."

Takao's eyes were on you for a moment – now he was the one lost for words.

You let out a sigh once again and turned your camera off. You caught him moving in your line of vision, and when you finally looked up at him…

 _Snap!_

Your eyes widen.

He was holding his phone in front if you. It took a little longer for you to absorb what just happened. When you finally did, you realized he took a picture of you in his phone.

That creep!

That good-for-nothing, talented, cute creep!

"Come on!" he groaned. "Smile for me, will ya?"

You stood up and tried to grab his phone from his hands, but he was too quick for you. Before you knew it, he was standing away from you.

"Delete that!" you demanded. "I look ridiculous!"

"Why do you think so?" he chimed, looking at the picture he took. "You look cute here."

"Come on! It's embarrassing!" you admitted as you flushed a deep red. For some reason, even though you could, you were unable to go towards him, snatch his phone from his hand, and delete the photo yourself. You were frozen, hands on your waist, looking at the raven-haired boy in front of you as he studied your photo. There he went again, you observed. He went from being his happy-go-lucky self to his unusual quiet self. You were rendered helpless at the sight of him being serious at the moment.

He smiled a bit. "You know what's funny? You wanna capture _beautiful_ things…" he told you as he went for the door, finally deciding to leave you on the rooftop. Before he went for the stairs, he looked at you, gave you a grin, and continued, "…but you don't have any pictures of _yourself_."

You gaped. You didn't know what to feel at what you heard. You just watched him go, his one hand on his pocket and the other one waving.

"Let's fix that, shall we? For now, I have practice."

* * *

Days had passed since your encounter with Takao on the rooftop, but you still had not moved on with what he said. And what's weirder was, a day after that, you would catch him looking at you at some moments. There were even times when he'd be in a comfortable distance if he wasn't following you around. It drove you crazy. The teasing didn't stop.

And so were your feelings.

You shook your head. "Thank God for morning strolls," you whispered to yourself as you slid the classroom door open. You decided to go to school a bit earlier so you wouldn't encounter a certain raven-haired boy on the hallway.

When you looked at your desk, you noticed something strange. You arched a brow as you went closer, eyeing the things scattered on your table. It took you a while to realize that they were pictures… of _you_.

Your eyes widen as you picked every single one of them. _'This is weird,'_ you thought as you studied the pictures. _'Do I have a stalker or something!?'_

As you scanned the pictures, you were convinced everything was captured using a phone and from a distance (since it was a bit pixelated). Nevertheless, it was shot beautifully.

Still clueless at what to feel about this, you turned one picture over thinking maybe something was written. To your surprise, there was.

 _"You have the most beautiful smile_ ," it read. It made you blush.

You checked some of the pictures to see if there were messages behind (and if there was something that would give you a hint of who did this). As expected, there was something written behind every photograph.

And this one message gave it away:

 _"I wanna capture your smile._

 _"I wanna make it timeless."_

He doesn't need to write his name for you to find out.

You smiled. "That creep."

That good-for-nothing, talented, cute, _sweet_ creep.

* * *

Unbeknown to you, a smiling Takao was looking at you from outside the classroom. As soon as he was satisfied at the sight of your smile, he walked away. He felt accomplished for taking beautiful pictures of you for the past few days.

"I wanna capture your smile. I wanna make it timeless," he chimed as he walked on the hallway.


End file.
